Steel railing



June 28, 1927. 1,633,659

F. CERNY STEEL RAILING- Filed Aug. 5, 1925 INVENTOR.

' shown in the accompanying drawings,

Patented June 28, 1927.

FRANK canny, OFIBERWYN, ILLINOIS.

STEEL RAILING.

Application filed August 5, 1925. Serial No. 48,185.

This invention relates to newand useful improvement-s in structural steel railings and hasamong its objects the PIOYlSlOihOf a. railing or fencing embodying simpl city of construction with comparatively great strength.

It is also. an object of the invention to provide a railing which shall be adaptable for protection to vehicles along the sides of highways having sloping embankments where the construction of fences or railings must necessarily be very rigid to withstand the impact of a moving vehicle, and where further, the simplicity of construction which reduces the cost of installation is of consideration.

The railing here shown and described is not only susceptible to rigid construction, but requires no riveting or bolting for securing of the cross rails to the posts.

With these and other objects in view my invention consists in the novel combination and construction of the parts and members described in the following specifications and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denote like parts: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a railing embodying my invention;

Figure 2, is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3, is a cross section taken on line 33 of Figure 1, showing the rail joint construction Figure 4, is an elevation of a part of a post showing the opening in same for the rail as shipped to the site. of installation; and,

Figure 5, is a vertical section taken on line 55 of Figure 4;

Figure 6, is a side elevation of a portion of the cross rail showing in side view the retaining notches; and,

Figure 7, is a cross section taken on line 7-7 of Figure 6, showing the retaining notches in plan view.

Referring to the illustrations, 10 indicates I-beam posts which may either be driven in the ground or supported in concrete foundations 11 as herein preferably shown. The posts 10 are provided with openings 12 in the web 1O within which openings I support and retain against movement, cross rails 13 also of I-beam cross section.

The openings 12 are cut with parallel sides 12*.extending longitudinally of the posts 10', and the distance between the sides 12 being only slightly larger than the width of, the flanges 13 of the cross rails 13 which extend throughthese openings. I It will be noted that the openings 12 are formed at theirlower ends with offsets or corners 12 by cutting the width of the lower end of the openings between said corners 12 sllghtly narrower. These retaining corners 12 are formed to engage within the slots 13 of the cross rails flanges 13 and thus positively retain the cross rails 13 against lateral movement In order to afford the insertion of the cross rails 13 into the openings 12 of the posts 10, I out the web 1.0 of the posts 10 slightly higher than the top of the actual opening 12 and then bend the portion 1O outwardly to provide sufficient clearance above corners 12 for the insertion of the cross rails 13 through the openings 12 so that it will only be necessary to lower the cross rails 13 into the lower portion of the openings 12 with the notches 13 engaging the corners 12 After this installation of the cross rails into place the outstanding bent portion 10 is hammered into place to close the clearance above the cross rails 13 to thus retain themin locked position with the posts 10.

Themethod or construction of splicing" to gether two cross rails 13 at a post 10, is shown in Figure3, and includes the cutting off of the adjacent flanges 13 up to the web 13 and overlapping the web portions. The flange portions which are not cut off at the splice are provided with the notches 13 At posts where splices occur, the width of the openings 12 in the posts 10 are made slightly wider or approximately the additional distance of the thickness of one of the webs in the cross rails 13 due to the fact that the webs 13 overlap.

It is now evident that I have provided a very rigid rail or fence construction wherein the cross rails and posts are securely held together without the use of any bolts or rivets and which construction afiords a comparatively low cost of installation.

I claim;

1. A fence or railing comprising a plurality of rolled-section metallic posts, and a cross rail extending through openings in said posts, said cross rail having a plurality of pairs of notches arranged to engage a portion of said posts for retaining said cross rail against lateral movement.

2. A fence or railing, comprising a plurality of rolled-section metallic posts, a plurality of rolledsection metallic superposed cross rails having notched flanges engaging an integral portion of said posts for retaining said cross rails against lateral movement, said cross rails having splices at desired post locations, said splices having portions of said cross rails overlapping one another With their adjacent flanges cut oil to permit the overlapping of the web portions of said cross members at said splices, and notches in the uncut flange portions engaging an integral portion of the post.

3. A fence or railing comprising a plurality of rolled-section metallic posts, said posts having a flanged portion integral With a Web portion and an opening in said Web portion, and a cross rail extending through said web openings, said cross rail having upper and lower flange portions and an integral web portion, said web openings in said posts being cut slightly wider than the upper flan e of said cross rail and slightly narrower at thelower ends than the lower flange of said cross rail thereby forming corners integral with the post Web, said lower flange of said cross rail having notches cut therein for embracing said post Web corners for retaining said cross rail against lateral movement.

A fence or railing as embodied in claim 3, and including a splice for said cross rail, said splice consisting oil overlapping ends of said cross rail, said overlapping ends each having their-adjacent upper and lower flange portions out oii' to the web to permit the overlapping of the webs, and a notch cut in the lower uncut flanges for engaging an in- 'tegrai porlion of the post web.

in witness whereof I aliix my signature.

FRANK OERNY. 

